QUICK COMPANION REUNION IN MACAU

November 18, 2015

Family,

We are here in the apple store in Kowloon emailing because the library apparently is closed on Thursdays and today we get to go to the temple. that is why our p-day changed. Sorry I forgot to tell you. Peru sounds awesome. It was fun to see the pics and hear about it. Thanks for sending those.

Macau was so fun. It was great to see all my previous companions together and spend a few minutes talking with them.

One amazing thing about this place is that very often they have workers powerspray and scrub the sidewalks to keep it clean. It's amazing. They are constantly repainting lines and making things look better. 

Another funny thing. We got here to the apple store as they were opening and there were already about 20 people waiting to get in. The workers counted down the opening time and the people were clapping. It was funny.  This place is packed and loud. It is really weird writing on a Mac too.

The Lord answered my prayer this week pretty fast. I asked him to humble me. That day we went outside to call former investigators (our apartment has horrible service) and the 2nd person I called was willing to meet, amazing, and she could only meet immediately, not later. So we left to head to Tin Shui Wai to meet with her. We planned to meet her at the park, so we got to the park and called her to make sure she was coming. I was trying to explain where we were in the park and she was trying to figure out where, but we couldn't understand each other. After a few minutes of this, i told her we would meet at a mcdonalds about 2 min walk away instead. She agreed. We went to the Mcdonalds and waited for about 20 min and she didn't show. We called her and apparently she was at a different mcdonalds somehow. i thought i explained pretty clear which one, but she didn't understand. So then she asked us to meet at one of the light rail stops. We agreed and because she was getting impatient with me and didn't have too much more time, we sprinted all the way to the light rail stop, which was a about a 10 min jog away. We finally met up with her. We were so sweaty and wet. We were able to meet with her after about 45 of trying to meet up. We met for about 30 min before we needed to leave to go to another appointment. It was crazy and it was as we were running to meet with her that I realized that this was a direct answer to my prayer. I had been humbled and realized how much I need to rely on the Lord and work diligently in learning Mandarin.

I had the opportunity to have an interview with President Lam yesterday. It was my first real interview with him. He came up to the New Territories and all of our district met with him at the Hong Shui Kiu Chapel. That was great. A lot of things he said were things I needed to hear. It was a tender mercy to hear his words and testimony and know that he is being guided by the spirit to know what to do and what to say. He is great man.

We haven't been able to meet with Chen Family this week. We called Sam to schedule an appointment and he sounded like a different person. I asked him if he had read any of the book of mormon and he said he had. He was so excited. It was crazy.  He finally read the book. The change in him was dramatic and this was just over the phone. We haven't been able to meet with him yet, but I am excited. 

We met with Zheng last night. He just has lots and lots of questions. They are good questions, but we can't get him to just open the book and read it on his own.

We also met an amazing new sister this week. We had a great lesson with the spirit in great abundance. Her name is Lydia. As we were leaving, We could see her in the distance reading the book of mormon as she was waiting for her train. She is from Mainland with one daughter.

I'll share a few more thoughts on Monday. Out of time. 

Thanks for your prayers. I pray for you every day.

I know that our Heavenly Father answers our prayers.

Hope all is well.

Elder Stratford

All Josh's companions in one picture.

Elder Copley my district leader. He went on exchanges with me for a day

we helped a sister move these two couches and her fridge and washer and dryer to her new home. It was great to be able to do some service and help her. We don't get too many opportunities to do this.

 Elder Darrington stuck between the railing and the couch

couch got stuck. took us 30 min to get it up 1 flight of stairs.

yuen Long. on top of the house of the sister we moved.

new shoe horn. we have been on the hunt and found some.

 

Me, Elder Darrington, Elder Chan, Elder Copley

 sorry i forgot to tell you I have temple day today so my P-day changed. I met all my companions down in Macau at the same time. it was really fun.

THE SPIRIT IS STRONG HERE AS I READ YOUR WORDS

November 8, 2015

Family,

Thank you for sharing a little about Peru.  It's very powerful and the spirit is strong here in the Tin Swai Wai Library in Hong Kong as I read your words and see your pictures. It is inspiring. I can't tell you how many times I have thought of you, dad, on my mission and remembering what your mission meant to you and how much you loved the people and the Lord. It makes me want to be better and work harder.

Chen Family is doing good. They weren't able to come to church yesterday though.

We haven't been able to meet with the Sem family this week. Or Elena.

Sam is still sam. never says anything. we asked him why he keeps scheduling us and what he hopes to learn from us to maybe help us know how to help him, but classic sam just said, buzhidao (i don't know).

Zheng is hard to teach. He has lots and lots of questions and doesn't take the time to listen to your response. He is great.

Jason is about the same.  sorry I don't have much to report on.

I loved this week reading Acts 9 and thinking over Saul's experience on the road to Damascus. I think a lot of times as we are going along the road of life, the Lord in his love, tells us and stops us though his Spirit, asking us why we are persecuting him. It gets you thinking. I often think, what you mean? I am not doing anything I shouldn't be doing, just maybe not doing something that I should be doing.  I am not persecuting you, I am only hurting myself and no one else, this doesn't have anything to do with you. Then he lovingly reminds us, I am Jesus whom thou persecuteth. Then as we come to realize that, that is sure hard to take. Saul's response is amazing. The humility you have to have must be so great to turn and ask the Lord, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" It is very hard, but as we are humble, we will be able to ask that question. And then the Lord can answer us and use us. "Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do." Powerful lesson and reminder for me this week.

Zone Conference was great this week. I was reminded of the importance of obedience, of unity and of getting to know the members. 

Thank you for your prayers and your examples. I know that as we have the spirit with us, the Lord can teach us what we need to learn.

Elder Stratford

The wetlands

Yuen Long away from the city

Tin Swai wai

Zero. I came in and he had been taught a few lessons. I taught him a few times with Elder Darrington and then we got our areas swaped so we turned him over to the other mandarin elders in the New Territories. They taught him a few weeks and he just got baptized on Sunday. He is amazing.

we live up at the top floor 28. it's a long ways. everyother day as part of exercise we run up to our room.

yuen long in the outskirts


View from my room.

BIRTHDAY WEEK AND HALLOWEEN

November 1, 2015

Family,

Snacks are not quite gone. thank you. thanks for the updates.

This week was a good week. I slacked in writing down things to say on the email because I said most of it on the recordings. 

Chen Family - they are busy and hard to schedule more than once a week. they are doing great.  They are reading from the book of mormon and really like coming to church. the ward has really taken them in. It's amazing. We had a pretty crazy lesson with them though.  We were planning on just teaching Ada, but they showed up unexpectedly as well. I thought Chen told me he couldn't come, but I misunderstood. Anyway, we changed our plan, since we were going to teach Ada the restoration, but we have alreadly taught that to the Chen Family we decided to teach Lesson 2. It was rough. We needed a member, and we weren't prepared with materials to help us teach. They were totally lost and looked confused the whole time. We probably should of just taught the Restoration and reviewed it for the Chen Family. Anyway, we have a member who is willing to help us teach them this week. 

Sem Family - we found another family this week to teach. we were street contact and ran into Lidia. We rescheduled her and she brought her family. We taught them. They are great. Very nice family and interested to learn. They have a little 3 year old.

We are also teaching a family from Nepal. They don't speak very good english and no cantonese or mandarin. We are turning them over this week probably. Luckily, we know an investigator who has been taught for a year and is just waiting till he turns 18 to become a member because his parents won't let him. His first language is the language Nepal people speak, Nepalize maybe, and he is helping us teach this week. 

Zheng - he had a lot of questions as we taught lesson 2. He is very sincere and very interested. Been taught for a while. Very smart man.

Haven't been able to meet with Sam or Elena or Jason this week.

my ponderize this week was 2 Nephi 9:18. It gives us 3 things to do to inherit the kingdom of God. 1st is believe in Christ. There is a reason that is always first. Faith is always before everything else, because it leads to everything else.If we don't have that faith, we won't endure the crosses of the world. 2nd is to endure the crosses of the world. JST helps us understand that taking up your cross is denying ourselves of all ungodliness, every worldly lust and keeping the commandments. We need to make the decision to follow Christ and deny ourselves from iniquity. Someone else can't do it for us. 3rd is to depise the shame it (i assume enduring the crosses of the world). That comes from humility and seeking the Lord's will and his praise over man's praise. i don't know if that makes any sense. my thoughts are jumbled today.

Lately I have been hearing a lot about simplicity. I was reminded of Utchdorf's talk in General Conference. Then in our zone training we talked a lot about keeping things simple. Then today in PMG I read a quote from President Lee telling us that we need to teach so simply and plainly that no one can misunderstand us. Then I opened the scriptures during personal study to 2 Nephi 25, where Nephi repeatedly reminds us about the importance of teaching with plainess to help people learn. Must be something I need to hear and to work on.

I am excited to get the Ensign this week I hope. So I can read over the conference talks. We have Zone Conference on Friday.

Thank you for your prayers and examples. I know that the Lord loves us and is looking out for us and sometimes will give us a period of testing to test our faith to  see if we are serious in our desires to follow Christ and the help we want to receive. 

Elder Stratford

in Mong Kok with a baguette.

in Yuen Long park

nice of my roomates to buy this for me. it was good. we enjoyed it.

MTR stop

Random place in Yuen Long

kids playing minute to win it games at the Halloween party.

JOSH'S 20TH BIRTHDAY WEEK

10/25/15

Family,

Thanks for the package. It is great. Elder Darrington loves it too. We have been happily snacking slowly the last few days. Got it on Thursday.

One of my new goals starting last week was to record tender mercies of the day in my journal. This has been a great practice, because my journal writing has been pretty poor quality. As I have sat and pondered each night about the Lord's hand in my life, I am starting to realize more how much of a part he has in our lives everyday.

Investigators are good. We are having a hard time meeting and helping most of them progress though. It is hard to meet because of how busy they are and how often they go back to Mainland.

Sam - we are trying still to get Sam to talk to us more and see how we can better help him. We got him to say a few words at our lesson saturday besides buzhidao (i don't know) and meiyou (literally 'not have' means nothing, no comment). We read the Book of Mormon with him and helped him see how he can use it to help him in his life. Got him answering and talking. Hopefully he keeps his commitments.

Chen Family - Pretty amazing this week with them.  We were waiting at the chapel for them. After 15 min past the scheduled meeting time, we were about to go, when all of a sudden, Sam, their son,  came running through the gate (there is a gate around the chapel and a password to get through the gate and another password to get into the chapel. and a different password for every door to get into the chapel) anyway. We were happily surprised that they came.  They also brought a friend and her little daughter. That was amazing.  This friend, Ada, has a christian background and is interested in the message.  We spent the first few minutes trying to help Ada understand why we have a differnet book of scripture, not the Bible.  We were kind of all over the place and the 3 were talking amongst them selves and the 2 kids were running around and screaming and banging on the piano. The father read up to 1 Nephi 14 but the mother didn't read anything and ada had no idea, so we visited the intro the book of mormon and read. we turned to Moroni 10 and explained that process and bore testimony of it. As we were doing this, it felt like a cocoon enveloped us from all the noise and the talking. They all started to pay attention and were totally focused as I bore my testimony. My comp invited them each to be baptized. They all accepted. It ended up being a very spiritual lesson. All three of them came to church yesterday and Sam. The ward is so great at fellowshipping them. It is wonderful.

Another tender mercy this week was I was able to give a training in district meeting. Through giving this training, I was humbled quite a bit. I was getting prideful again in my thoughts. I am really grateful for the Lord continuing to humble me often, because I need it often.

Thank you for your examples of missionary work and serving the Lord. I know that as we try to recognize His hand in our lives and have a personal interview often with  the Lord, we can grow closer to God and be given direct guidance on how we can better serve Him.

Love,

Elder Stratford

Bowling last week.

Light rail stop

Walking through the mall last p-day.

me by the water fountain. i was trying to get a few more pics since i failed last week.

elder darrington and I 

Our District minus two

new apartment. only 4 of us. Elder Winwood and Elder George

NEW TERRITORIES WITH ELDER DARRINGTON

10/18/15

Family,

Dad - Elder Liew left, so Elder Darrington and I are together. He is senior companion. We are both Mandarin's. Only mandarines serve together. It's pretty funny, we are still pretty clueless, but figuring things out together. We definitely are learning the importance of members in our lessons.

Bummer about the Dodgers. I'm excited to see Magnum play when I get back, sounds like some amazing games this season. That golf round sounds sweet. Those scores are amazing. That will be one of the first things I do when I get home. 

Mom - I have been off the windowsill since thursday, when Elder Liew left. I am not on the couch anymore. Language is slowly coming. Hopefully it comes a little quicker, because Elder Darrington and I have nobody to fall back on now in our lessons. Weather is pretty hot, rarely rains. Especially since we have to wear suitcoats everyday (from Conference to conference) until april. We take the MTR and light rail for transportation, rarely buses, light rail is basically a smaller version of the MTR just in New T's that have shorter and more frequent stops. thanks for sending the package.

We had a swap of areas. There are 4 mandarin missionaries in the New T's and they got the southern half and we have the northern half. Since we live in Tuen Muen and that is their area, we will probably move. plus our apartment is too crowded, and the other missionaries are probably getting a new apartment since they can't make calls out of it and it is really old. We have Elder Branse and Elder White who are cantonese elders living with us. same Elder Brandse as in macau. he just got transferred here on Wednesday. Elder Gerlach and Elder Chan, Gerlach is from Florida and Elder Chan is a native, can speak a little english. Elder Ashton and Elder Ng who are mandarin. Ashton is a month behind us but took chinese for 6 years so his mandarin is a little better than ours, from Ohio. Ng is zone leader and has been out a year from provo. I'll try to get a picture of them all next week.

Investigators - We have been teaching this amazing investigator, zero. He came to conference, comes to church every week and has read through 2 Nephi already in a few weeks.  We are going to move his baptismal date up a few weeks.  I came in with him having been taught first 3 lessons, Elder Darrington and I have taught him all of the commandments in lesson 4, we are turning him over to the other mandarin's now though because he lives in their area now.

the Chen Family - they are amazing.  Met them from english class. We have taught them once and they came to church sunday. The ward is great.  bishop and wife came and talked to them after sacrament and a sister came and sat by us to help us entertain their 4 year old son, sam.

Sam - teenager who isn't open to sharing and hard to help him, but we tried to build unity and trust and friendship this week by doing a Tim Tam Slam with him and using it as an analogy as we watched a mormon mesage. He seemed to enjoy it.

We just found out that President Nelson is coming down to visit next monday. stoked for that. Also, sister Robinson is in the New T's. Apparently she used to tend blake with the Rawson's some times. She is good friends with Kaylee. 

That scripture for your ward members is a scripture I have been thinking about a good amount the last week. Me and my comp decided to do a 40 day fast.  We prayerfully wrote down things we need to stop doing or start doing and starting today, promised the Lord that we would fast from those things for 40 days. We hope we can better purify ourselves to have the spirit more with us and earn the trust of the Lord. We are trying to better yield our hearts unto God. and to sanctify and purify our hearts.

I had an amazing experience during the closing hymn of general conference last week. The choir sang 'Love One Another' As they started to sing 'as i have loved you... i had memories start flashing through my mind one after another of all the ways the Lord has showed his love to me on the mission and before. It was an amazing experience and I realized more deeply then, how much he really loves us and is watching over us. We need to show that kind of love to others. It filled me with new determination to try the best I can to better love one another. that was my ponderize for the week. 

usually will email starting at noon instead of 11. Sorry if I didn't answer all your questions.

Thank you for your prayers. I know the Lord is looking out for us and watching over us.

Elder Stratford

our apartment. although I am guessing I will be leaving soon.

bowling scores last monday.

FIRST LESSON IN ENGLISH

10/11/15

Family,

Nice work Sadie. That's sweet.  

Doing well.  Conference was great.  I wish I could read the talks again. I'll have to wait for the Ensign.  

Good week.  I taught my first lesson in English this week which was amazing.  We taught Jonas, a less active in the 2nd branch.  It was probably the most powerful and spirit filled lesson I've been in since the start of my mission.  He told us his conversion story and shared his powerful testimony. It's amazing being able to understand and be able to share your feelings without being focused on the language.  He is going to prepare to receive the Priesthood.  I had the opportunity to lead a lesson with Tang Yang this week because my comp has been sick, so he just sat out.  It was pretty hard teaching without my comp, since I have nobody to fall back on when I don't undersand, but Parker (fellowshipper) and I were able to teach and testify and Tang Yang was able to understand.  He is amazing.  He knows a lot about the gospel and has a powerful spirit about him.  We just need to help him come to church, and he commited to come to Conference. So hopefully he came.  I don't know since I now am in New Territories.  

So I am now serving in New Territories area, it is the North West part, out in the outskirts of the mission again. It is very different from Macau. A lot more rural and no Casinos left and right.  I left a pretty sweet apartment with 3 Elders to now a smaller apartment with 8 Elder's.  A lot more crowded, and there are only 6 beds, so I get the couch. and the windowsill for my study area, but it good.  I get a good view. and there is warm water in the showers and the filter works better and the ironing board works.  They have a sweet chapel here. three actually.  Our area is about 2 and a half times bigger than Macau.   

Quick thought.  I loved what Elder Lawrence said in conference that our direction not our speed is important. It is easy to focus on the speed and sometimes when we do, it is easy to lose direction. It's similar to Elder Eyring's message this month, it is a marathon not a sprint. We need to remember to stay grounded and focused on the most important things and make sure we are heading in the right direction.  We can better do this through our perspective.  As we have an eternal perspective and strive to see things from God's eyes, we can better know what we can focus on and what we need to do to move in the right direction. The only way we lose is by not continuing and giving up

.I'll share more thoughts in the next weeks. out of time.

I know the gospel is true and we are led by living prophets. I know the Savior's grace is real and sufficient to cover us and transform us however long that transformation process takes.

Thank you for your examples and prayers.

Elder Stratford

Sister Sanderson and Sister Siu, the sister training leaders

Elder Holbrook shining our shoes.  He does this for us every district meeting.  He's amazing.

Elder Lai and I. He is the zone leader with my comp.

Elder Ma and I Friday morning. day I left.  He has been sick the past few days.

My new study area. I am in a tri companionship.

My new companions. Elder Darrington and Elder Liew (zone leader). Although he just got called today to become an assistant. So he is leaving Thursday. We'll see what happens because Elder Darrington came in with me to the mission.

My comps

Little more tight in this apartment.